Finished With No Winners
by HecateA
Summary: She's the last person Viktor expected to come find him after everything that's happened—but she's also the only one who can understand since they were made to play the same games. Oneshot.


**Author's note: **Enjoy!

**Hogwarts: **Assignment 1, Celtic Studies Task #2, Write about someone or something coming in third place.

**Disclaimer: **The following ch_ara_cters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **Loss, injuries

* * *

**Finished With No Winners **

_The gods may throw a dice_

_Their minds as cold as ice_

_And someone way down here_

_Loses someone dear_

_The winner takes it all_

_The loser has to fall_

_It's simple and it's plain_

_Why should I complain_

-The Winner Takes It All, Abba

Viktor thought that he had both earned some time alone _and _secured it for himself by finding the dead end hallway just minutes outside of the infirmary. He'd limped there—his leg having been hurt in the maze though he couldn't remember how—but with Harry just recently arrived, everyone's attention had understandably been elsewhere. Viktor couldn't even bear to look at the youngest champion, if what everyone was saying was true…

"I found us hot chocolate," someone said. "Well, I talked very sweetly and Bill—that red-haired boy I was speaking with—found us some."

He looked up and there was Fleur, still in her light blue Beauxbatons champion robes, strands of hair falling out of the braid she'd stepped into the labyrinth wearing. An ugly blueish ring highlighted her eye and one of her arms was tucked in a sling against her chest. Two mustard yellow cups floated behind her, steaming hot.

"What are you doing here?" Viktor asked hoarsely.

"I did not want you to be alone, and being in that infirmary was very lonely," Fleur said. She limped towards him and, carefully, eased herself down to sit next to him with her back against the wall. She grunted as she repositioned herself, trying to find a comfortable way to sit, and the two cups landed before them without a single drop spilling.

"How are you?" Fleur asked. "Are you alright? Did she—hmm—the nurse, did she discharge you, let you go, or did you run away like me?"

"I just left," Viktor said. "I could not be near people who… why are you being so nice to me? Fleur, I could have killed you in that labyrinth."

"_Non," _Fleur said, shaking her head. "Whoever had cast the curse on you could have killed me. It had nothing to do with you, Viktor. It was not your fault."

Her French accent lifted the 'o' in his name differently than all the anglophones in the castle did. It wasn't quite like how his family would say his name, but hearing her say it had always been soothing to him. It was one of the many reasons he had loved spending time with her and Cedric—sitting at the top of the Astronomy Tower with a bottle of wine she'd stolen from Madame Maxime or wandering the Green Houses to learn more about British flora.

Viktor took a deep breath.

"I cannot believe Cedric is dead," Viktor said.

Fleur reached for her cup not to drink from it, but to hold it close to her. She took a shaky breath.

"They still are not sure what happened," Fleur said. "But with the way his eyes were glazed over and he was so stiff, and the look that Harry had on his face…"

"It was a killing curse," Viktor said, shaking his head. "He was—he was killed. I do not understand."

"I do not either," Fleur said. "I told the first employee of the ministry I saw that I quit from the tournament. We were told it would be dangerous, of course it would, but whatever happened to Cedric… it was not an accident. It was not his fault. Something went wrong and a good man lost his life and that is unacceptable. I wanted to leave after they took my little sister, but this… I cannot stand it."

"You quit after the tournament was over?" Viktor said. Despite the gravity of the situation, he had to admire the absolute audacity that that would take.

"I did," Fleur said. "They broke rules by letting a boy die—arguably the best one out of us all—and so I did not see the need to play by any rules either. I thought I would tell you in case you wanted to do the same or if coming in third place would comfort you."

"Third place?" Viktor asked.

"Yes," Fleur said. "Harry and Cedric, I think, appear to be tied for first place by virtue of attaining the cup which means that second place is taken, leaving you in third place since I am no longer in the ranks. Congratulations."

Viktor couldn't help but laugh about how awfully ridiculous she sounded given the context, and perhaps because of the stress and horror of their current situation. Maybe for similar reasons, Fleur laughed as well. He had to admit that their laughter sounded a little unhinged, echoing in the castle halls too.

When they finally settled down, Viktor's stomach was cramped and twisted in knots.

"I needed that," Viktor said. He put his free hand on her knee and squeezed. "Though I think… technicalities of third place aside I think we all lost this one."

Fleur raised her cup of hot chocolate.

"To Cedric," she said. "And to Harry as he faces whatever will come from this."

"To Cedric and Harry," Viktor repeated.

"And to us," Fleur said.

They clinked their mugs together and each took a drink, silently.

Fleur leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I am sad it ended like this," Fleur said. "I hated this tournament, every moment of it, but I was hoping to finish with friends."

"We don't have to end it like this," Viktor said again. "We can… we will stay in touch, Fleur. Once we have graduated, we can meet anywhere in the world and have coffee and talk for hours. I can teach you how to fly a broomstick, finally."

"It cannot be that crucial of a life skill to fly a broomstick," Fleur said.

"The flying skills are why I am in third place and you are not," Viktor said—which sent them into another fit of laughter.

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Hogwarts; Swap and Shop

**Individual Challenge(s): **Cuppa; Hola, Bonjour, Jambo; Durmstrang MC; Beauxbatons MC; Spring Rain; Seeds; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (Friendship); Themes & Things B (Loss); Themes & Things D (Chocolate); Themes & Things F (Mourning); Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

**Word Count: **980


End file.
